By March 2020 the new coronavirus SARS-CoV-2, which causes COVID-19 disease, had spread across the globe and caused a global pandemic that changed lives all around the world. The year 2020 and the first half of the year 2021 were marked by halt of public life, prohibited socializing and gathering, the closure of activities and measures to prevent the spread of infection. The epidemic brought prolonged closures, restrictions and other changes which increased the number of mental disorders of the population and those who need professional help due to their deteriorating mental health. During the epidemic, social work in mental health non-governmental organizations has changed. The organization I included in my research, still offered their services to service users during this period, but to a limited extent and in a different way.
The graduation thesis addresses the operation of Ozara Slovenija organization’s information and consulting office in Ljubljana during the COVID-19 epidemic. The theoretical part of the thesis covers topics such as definitions of epidemics and pandemics, social work during the epidemic, mental health during the epidemic, stigmatization of people with mental health problems, community mental health, network of mental health services and mental health non-governmental organizations. The empirical part of the thesis includes a qualitative study conducted by interviewing social workers employed in Ljubljana’s unit of Ozara, volunteers who cooperate with the organization and a student of the Faculty of Social Work on internship at Ozara during this period. I conducted interviews with my interviewees with the help of pre-prepared guidelines. I presented the results I obtained and answered the research questions. In my research, I focused on researching the adjustments of work and services during the epidemic, the positive and negative aspects of changed circumstances, and the guidance and instructions provided to the organization by the competent institutions. I also focused on comparing the quality of work and services for service users before and during the epidemic, the cooperation of volunteers with the organization during the epidemic, the relationships within the organization during this period and the impact of the epidemic on the mental health of employees, volunteers and service users.
Due to prescribed measures, the organization moved most of its services online and reduced direct personal contact with service users. Volunteers worked with the organization to a much lesser extent than before the epidemic. The periods of the first (spring 2020) and second (from autumn 2020 to spring 2021) lockdown differed in the way of providing services and activities for service users, as well as the experience of employees and volunteers.
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